Focus on the Family’s Health Care Fundraising Pitch

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As the health care bill nears a final vote this weekend, religious and social conservatives seem to be seizing the opportunity to maximize its fundraising potential. Yesterday, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed e-blasted readers of WorldNet Daily asking for “donations” to his new advocacy group for “FaxGrams” to Congress opposing the bill. Today comes the lobbying arm of the slightly broke evangelical powerhouse Focus on the Family, which claims in an email that it has already spent $800,000 trying to defeat the Democrats’ health care proposal. Tom Minnery, the senior vice president for Focus on the Family Action, wrote to supporters on the eve of “one of the most historic votes in history,” that Focus was “stretched thin” by the health care battle and needed some extra cash to continue its fight to hold legislators accountable. He writes:

“There’s an old saying that there are two seasons in politics: legislative season and campaign season. When the politicians have finished voting on the bills, campaign season begins. That’s the time for you and me to hold them accountable. And after all of the secrecy, stunts and parliamentary shenanigans of the past year—on health care alone—lots of accountability is going to be needed!

That’s why I’m urgently asking you to help Focus Action hold them accountable with a special gift today. The election may be a few months away, but the accountability work starts right now—while the American people still remember what just happened.”

He might have added that health care reform has been a “special gift” to struggling right-wing groups looking for something to stoke hysterical fundraising appeals. No doubt there will be many more to come over the next 72 hours.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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